NEWS CENTER

UT Arlington In The News - Friday, February 3, 2012

NY Times article calls Center linchpin in College Park District

The opening of The University of Texas at Arlington’s College Park Center was the place to see and be seen Wednesday night, The New York Times reported. As North Texas businessmen, politicians, media personalities and higher-education administrators crowded the hospitality suite, President James D. Spaniolo stood at center court before the largest crowd ever to attend a basketball game at the university. The center is intended to be the linchpin of a new College Park District adjacent to campus with 600 new beds in university-run student housing, a 1,850-car parking garage and ample retail space.

If you build it...

If you build it, they will come. In this particular instance, they came
in record numbers as a crowd of 6,228 watched The University of Texas at
Arlington's dramatic 67-66 victory over UT-San Antonio at the grand
opening of the College Park Center, DFW.com
reported. The new $78 million state-of-the-art facility takes the place
of Texas Hall, where the basketball games were played on a stage in an
auditorium that was more suited for a dramatic play than basketball
plays.

Eye-popping structure

To really appreciate basketball in sparkling College Park Center, a UT
Arlington fan only had to compare Wednesday night’s grand opening
doubleheader to basketball games in the teams' former home, Texas Hall, ESPN.com
reported. An unscientific survey of a few of the near-capacity crowd
attending: No comparison. College Park Center is an eye-popping
structure on the eastern edge of the campus. For a price tag of $78
million, UT Arlington has an arena that seats 7,000 with every seat
within shouting range of a referee.

Impact of AMR cuts on North Texas

The North Texas economy is set to take a wallop as a AMR Corp. announced plans to cut thousands of jobs, The Dallas Morning News
reported. On a macro level, though, the North Texas economy will
probably absorb the hit, said Bill Crowder, a UT Arlington economics
professor. “I don’t think this is going to have a huge impact. The
Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has got a very diverse economy. As large and
important as American Airlines is, it’s not that big a piece of the
whole."

Running for office

Theresa Daniel, an adjunct professor in the UT Arlington School of Urban
and Public Affairs, is running for the Dallas County Commissioners
Court District 1 seat, the Dallas Voice
reported. Daniel also earned her doctorate from UT Arlington. Daniel is
one of the several candidates vying for the District 1 seat, which was
vacated by incumbent Maureen Dickey who chose not to seek re-election.